Interfaced
by Linariel
Summary: There is a thin line between reality and what your subconscious tells you and Maggie's about to get a dose of confusion courtesy of a certain Decepticon Communication Officer. Post ROTF
1. In a Fix

WARNING MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR REVENGE OF THE FALLEN READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

**Summary - ** There is a thin line between reality and what your subconscious tells you. Maggie's plan to remain neutral backfires when she finds herself abducted by a certain decepticon communications officer.

**Linariel - **This story hit me like rail road and I've been dying to write it. After seeing the new movie I just couldn't wait any longer. This is post 09 movie. I realize that we didn't see Maggie in the movie but she was in the first so she's a part of this universe still and I like her a lot. Plus just think of this Maggie is a hacker and Soundwave is a communication officer get the connection? Anyways forgive me if it's out of character but then again this is from the movie not from the other genre.

_Disclaimer: I do not own any Transformers the credit for these remarkable characters goes to Hasbro and Michael Bay's team who produced the movie, and Dreamworks. I do however own all the characters that don't appear in any of the TF or any other show, movie, or book.

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**Interfaced**

**Chapter 1: In a Fix**

**By: Linariel

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Maggie clenched her fists tighter as she shook. She tried to reach out for the latch but as soon as she did a jolt of pain ran through her entire arm she screamed finding herself pushed back from impact. The bars of her steel confines gave her a glimpse of the outside world. It was all metal which only made her sink deeper into despair.

When that large robot cat thing broke into her house Maggie thought she was a goner. What it did next surprised her instead of killing her it picked her up in its teeth by the back of her shirt like she was kitten. She found herself jangling about in its grasp as it ran towards a large car. She realized later it was taking her to its Master. Now she'd been left in this prison to await the fate of her existence to the large mechanical being.

All the sudden her musings were broken when a whooshing sound took place making her tense as she looked up to meet the red visor of her captor. The towering mech seemed to inspect her with mild interest. Before she could do anything his silver hand reached in for her and she yelped ducking it this way and that trying to hide behind what she could before she found his hands enclosing around her.

He brought her up to meet his face. She hit at his hands with all her strength trying to get free. But couldn't do it for long before he was shaking her so hard it made her dizzy and unable to concentrate.

"Cease. Escape futile. Maggie Madsen belongs to Soundwave now." Came the monotone voice of her captor he stroked her blond hair with the back of his index finger. She shivered at the mere touch from the cold metal.

Her soft brown eyes looked at him directly. "Why?" were the only words she could get out.

"Insect is a hacker. A human that can detect and trace Decepticon code. The answer to this problem the organic must be eradicated from the autobot ranks." His words were cold as his visor was on her.

She shivered hugging herself at his words. It was true she put herself in danger working with NEST to decipher the codes, frequencies, and language of the decepticons from symbols into letters. She'd even created a program that made the job simpler for those with less intellect. Maggie thought that being in the background on the sidelines would keep her out of the decepticons range but apparently it had not worked that way and now she was paying for it. Will's warning ran through her memory and she felt her heart sink at the bitter irony.

Soundwave went back to stroking her head which he seemed to find amusement in doing even though she tried to flinch away, the mech's grip made it impossible to move. Maggie still didn't understand why she wasn't dead yet. Didn't eradication mean to kill someone? But then again her captor seemed to have the strangest speech patterns she'd ever heard who knew what the decepticon was trying to say. She took a deep breath and decided took up the courage to speak what had been on her mind since Soundwave brought her here. "Why am I not dead yet?"

He seemed to contemplate what to say to her. It seemed like it took a while before her captor spoke. Through the entire time he remained emotionless it was plain he did not exhibit any emotions outwardly. "Megatron wanted NEST's Chief Hacker eliminated. An request was made to keep femme functional. My Leader Megatron approved request." His voice seemed to have tone of a real robot unlike other mechs she'd ran into but he was sentient that much was true from the way he handled things. "Femme was found to be exploitable."

Maggie cocked her head confused by this. "What possible use could I be?" After all she was no more then an insect to a big hulking mech like him. Didn't they want her whole race destroyed? Then again Megatron had told Sam he could live as his pet if he brought him the allspark. Did that mean these things found amusement in humans?

Soundwave did not respond directly to her but held her a little firmer in his grip as he turned towards an empty space and walked over. Maggie still was a jostled a bit as she clung to the hand. The mech finally stopped a light seemed to glow from his chest making her burying her head in his fingers worried it was some kind of weapon to use against her. "Ravage, Rumble… release." He commanded. The red light shined brightly making her shield her eyes. Two beings came out of the portal emitting from his chest to stand before them. One she knew the one eyed robot cat and one that looked vaguely small robotic drone that looked familiar yet the red optics threw her off.

The government analyst despite her circumstances looked on with fascination. The transformers were just full of surprises. Yet this didn't explain why he needed her. Rough metal met her scalp again and she flinched at his touch. Though he didn't pet her for very long before he held her out to the cat thing, Maggie's eyes widened struggling against his grip, as the beast who could only be Ravage smirked at her with a light growl. She could guess what the thing wanted to say 'We meet again insect.' Yes that sounded accurate.

The three seemed to converse together in their own language because before she knew it Ravage had her shirt between his teeth adding another hole she didn't need. And the one called Rumble strode off in the direction of large dresser of drawers. He crawled right inside it. Her soft brown eyes widened not liking where this was going she looked between Soundwave and Ravage trying to get some shred of the meaning of what they were doing but she couldn't make anything out from the blank expression and the smirk. Then all at once the drone emerged with a human sized tool box he set it on the ground nearby.

What happened next was not at all what Maggie expected. Soundwave bent backwards aiming directly for the metal surface. Ravage scrambled out of the way with her. Her captor soon laid on open ground. His digits went to his head and with care he removed his helmet revealing to her eyes a mess of wiring, she could see sparks dancing about it, and pink liquid seeping out. Before she knew it she was being dragged towards his head. She flinched as she neared it. Rumble strode up besides her with the toolbox, and Ravage released his grip on her shirt then sat down next to her. Rumble held out the metal compartment. Maggie accepted the box rather awkwardly it was still large, she looked from one drone to another still confused beyond words, what was she supposed to do with this?

Her captor answered the question for her. "Fix Soundwave!" he boomed in the same commanding tone he used on the two drones.

Ravage nudged her towards the open plating. Her eyes widened. She'd repaired computers in the past even hacked into many. But low and behold her robotic captor wanted Maggie to fix him. She shook her head. There was no way she'd betray the autobots by helping their enemy. With another decepticon out there Sam had no chance at a normal life, and NEST would be overwhelmed with attacks. Maggie summarized she was probably one of the only humans alive that understood the complex binary code of decepticons. No doubt was in her mind that was why he wanted her.

"Rumble retrieve the training band." Soundwave droned after not receiving any response from his human.

A snicker came from the drone as he slithered over to her. Before Maggie could do anything a silver metal brace was forced around her throat it instantly clamped into place. She tugged at it for a moment it wasn't too tight but it was berating to be wearing a collar. Like she was some pet? 'Why is it called a training…' she was cut off in mid thought as a surge of energy zapped at her making her scream out in pain. Before it let off, she noticed the left circle on her her captor's wing light up when she was zapped. He was doing this to her. Laying on the ground for a moment panting she pulled herself back up to face the mech.

Soundwave spoke at this moment. "Fleshling obey or you will be punished. Does Maggie understand?"

Shakily she nodded and opened the box to retrieve the tools she needed. Maggie neared the static electricity. Taking out the pliers she found the source of interference and worked carefully to place the wiring in the correct order. When her hands clasped the wires she yelped in pain, tears coming to her eyes from the shock. But it did nothing more. Her mind soon got the better of her and instinct took over reason as she traversed through the mess. It appeared like he'd been hit by some kind of explosive. If left unattended it would result hay wire circuit that could make him malfunction if left unattended. Pink liquid seeped onto her skin making her hiss in pain withdrawing her hand till she was shocked again. Then she retured to work. Finally after what seemed hours she was able to make the necessary repairs.

Wiping the sweat from her brow she sat back exhausted. "Alright then, I'm done." She croaked and Ravage retrieved her.

The Mech placed the helmet back on and got to his feet. His eyes beamed out light to produce a hologram which showed the inner workings of his insides, he seemed to carefully check everything till he nodded in approval. "Repairs sufficient." He picked her up despite her protesting and held her to his chest stroking her blond hair. "Maggie's usefulness is 83 percent. Soundwave will keep her."

Once Soundwave deposited her inside the cage she quickly noticed a stack of human essentials from food to hygiene everything she needed to survive was in it. Maggie despaired at this. That could only mean he'd planned all along to keep her. She suspected Soundwave assumptions rarely were wrong.

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**A/N: **I know what your thinking another story? Well this mind just wouldn't back down. I wanted to do a fiction on Maggie and Soundwave just slowly played into the mix there will be others but it will center around the communications specialist and the NEST analyst. Chapters will vary in size btw.

_Now the question will go should be a one shot or a story hmm it all depends on how many reviews I get. I got two stories in the works so this one is a trial and go._

Hope you enjoy!

Review please so Ratchet doesn't come after me with his hatchet!


	2. Detected Problems

**Linariel - ** *blinks at review count* Well snap it you go off to college out of state get busy and turn back to find a mess of reviews wow. I apologize for not responding sooner college life has kept me busy and others things more complicated have gotten in the way.

Bet you weren't expecting this huh? I don't know about you but with the Transformers Dark of the Moon trailers now out I've been getting excited I can't wait for the next movie.

If you don't know already this story takes place post RotF I may go into DotM but that's if it works into the plotline I worked up. Nevertheless I'm going to try to stay at a cannon level.

**I'd like to point out one thing before we get started on the story this is in no way a Maggie/Soundwave pairing fiction it's more pet and master if anything. I will say no more though to explain Soundwave's actions it will be explained later on in the story. **

_Disclaimer: I do not own any Transformers the credit for these remarkable characters goes to Hasbro and Michael Bay's team who produced the movie, and Dreamworks. I do however own all the characters that don't appear in any of the TF or any other show, movie, or book._

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**Interfaced**

**Chapter 2: Detected Problems**

**By: Linariel**

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Her soft brown pupils slowly emerged from underneath her eyelids as the sleepy blonde awakened. She yawned as she stiffly stretched out her aching muscles. Her body felt worn to the brim but her burns from the energon were slowly starting to heal thanks to the surprisingly gentle work done by the technician claws. Vaguely she could remember the cold gel like substance he'd rubbed with aching detail onto her skin as she struggled vainly in his grasp trying to get away. Then he'd all but left her alone in the cage he'd set up with the energy bars still glowing brightly just daring her to try and touch them again.

The room was a void that was all there was. Nothing happened nothing came. Her mind was quiet full of nothing but data raw as it was. Images flashed every once and a while but then they faded. Replaced by her metal world, the echos from outside, and the few colors of blue, red, yellow, and silver. Maggie Madsen didn't know what do with her time it was idly spent. That was until the sparks flew and the energon seeped in to melt her flesh. Then she knew she was being called on, then she knew she was needed.

How long had she been here? It seemed like the days never got older nor younger. Not since she'd been whisked from her refuge to this place of despair. Her soft brown eyes were wild with ill contempt as she waited for her so called master to return. He always came back and when he did she had something to do. When he was gone the room was lifeless. She was going mad with the silence. It continued on for far longer then she could hope.

So she did the only thing that seemed possible she reflected on her past that by a twisted fate lead her here. If asked before things transpired she'd never have imagined this to be so. She thought she'd finally found her place in life taking up the title of the advisor to the Secretary of Defense a place where she could shine. This was proof to her parents and the rest of the people who doubted her that she, Maggie Madsen was bright and fully capable of reaching her goals. Then the fateful day came that John Keller stepped down from office and a new Secretary of Defense was enlisted by the name of Carl Green. The man Carl did not appreciate her talent nor her expertise and saw fit to remove her at once. Thus she did the only thing she could do she gave in to an obsession that haunted her mind for the past years.

Alien codes more specifically understanding the cybertronian language. For days her mind replayed the sounds of Decepticons isolating the differences between them and the Autobots. From the sinister garble to the calm splur of static it all had its own tune. While her friend's signals were pleasing to the ear the interface of a decepticon could leave one feeling the brunt pain. Maggie found it all so fascinating it was an untapped research a new discovery something that she pursued studying to the deepest extent as close to the limit as the human brain could take. It was like wine to her to do so. Sweet refreshment with it's own tang of bitterness that made her crave to understand more.

With the contact she still received off and on from their Autobot allies she'd been able to put her brain to work and slowly but surely understand how to detect even the slightest trace of decepticon code. The scratches, the screeching, and the murmurs melted into wording on the screen and from there she figured out many things which she relayed straight to their headquarters helping them with many run-ins with Starscream whom had claimed leadership after Megatron's departure. Fairly soon once NEST was established she was offered a position full time as their chief analyst. She jumped at the opportunity to finally have a full time career again and be among the gentle giants whom she'd worked with in the past.

However when you tap into the unknown there are always consequences she'd just chose to ignore them. Look where it got her in the end.

"Hell-o in-scet." Came a scratchy voice from nearby.

Her soft brown eyes met red optics a smirk firmly on them.

She ignored him holding her leg closer to her chest. He'd disturbed her before and their meeting had not been a pleasant one. "Leave me alone Rumble." Maggie said coldly. A normal human would have cowered before the drone but she had been around mechs long enough that his gaze didn't even make her flinch. Only his master and those who towered over her could do that.

The little drone cackled lightly clicking his claws together. "You miss Mas-ter do-n't you."

Her eyes widened but she couldn't deny it. She needed Soundwave like she needed air. Imprisoned in this cell she found her time used by waiting. It was all she did there was nothing she could do without his commands. The collar around her neck proved the ownership. No matter how degrading she had nothing left in life but to be a tool in the decepticon's drawer of instruments.

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Metal met cloth as the autobot Ironhide labored effortlessly to clean his artillery. Grumbling slightly as he picked out more and more grains of sand in barrels. It was meticulous work but something that weapon specialist loved doing. He took great care of all his ammunition and worked the hardest to keep it in shape. It was difficult to believe that with how trigger happy he was the mech would even spend the time to look over his equipment but the autobot if anything was thorough in this area.

His human charge sat on a fold out chair that had been set up nearby watching in interest as his guardian concentrated on his artillery. It fascinated Will Lennox to no end the capabilities that autobots had. It was hard not to have him work with their own weapon specialist to improve the design bases on many of things they used to take down the decepticons. Out of all the autobots Ironhide was Will's favorite. True he didn't get along with half the humans on base so well but they shared a special friendship that only soldiers could.

"You almost done there 'Hide?" Major Lennox asked the focused mech.

Not looking up from his work Ironhide replied with effortless resolve. "I just need to adjust some of the settings and then it will once again function properly."

"Took a rough beating out there eh?" Will asked referring to the few times the bot had to switch cannons during the intense battle.

Ironhide retorted with a grumble. "I've never had to work in so much organic sand for extended period of time. It nearly ruined half of my armaments. Thanks primus they're still functioning enough to fix.

"How about the other mechs weapons?" Will asked finally remembering the matter of business Ratchet and some of the other mechs had ask him to discuss with the trigger friendly bot. It wasn't easy to have a normal conversation with Ironhide but for some reason Will was one of the few humans/mechs that could work with him.

Ironhide looked up a small smirk came on his faceplates gesturing to a wide array of weapons that were mounted on the wall. "Fully operational now, I also upgraded some of our newest members gear to function more sufficiently within the Earth's gravitational pull.

Will nodded his head in approval. If anyone knew about weapons it was Ironhide and it was always good to hear when the bot figured out something new for the arsenal.

Ironhide turned back to his weapons and worked on tinkering with the wiring leavingLennoxto his own musings.

Times like these were alright not the best, since Will was practically born a soldier and the art of warfare was nearly hard wired into his brain. But with all the panic going on in the normal world the government had confined everyone who had involvement with NBEs at Diego Garcia, Nest Headquarters and the only place unknown to the populace. There was to be no leaving base or any contact with the outside world till the matter was resolved.

Things were complicated at the moment as soon as The Fallen came on screen many conspirators had came up with their own theories about the truth of the sentient beings, questions were going back and forth. The world leaders had yet to reveal the truth behind the hacked video of the supposed alien.

A beep came from the nearby intercom that thankfully was at human level caught Lennox's attention he strode over to it. Touching the talk button he spoke in a clear authoritative voice. "Lennoxhere."

"Uh this is Glenn Whitmann from Analyst HQ we've got a situation… foreign signal… seems to be of decepticon origin… having trouble pinning it down."

Will shook his head rubbing his temples. This was not his area of expertise. "Have you informed Optimus Prime of the situation yet?"

"Yeah he's here right now." Came Glenn's voice over the intercom. "He wants you down here ASAP."

Lennox shook his head. Even if others may not see it this way Will acknowledged Prime as the leader of the NEST in many ways he rarely didn't respond to something the autobot requested. "I'll be right over." Getting off the intercom he turned to prepare to walk down the Autobot area of NEST towards the Human headquarters.

The entrance was blocked by a large foot belonging to his guardian glancing up he could almost see an intensity sparking in the mech's optics. "Allow me to assist." Ironhide said his tone holding no room for argument. He placed his palm flat on the ground designating it as transportation for his small friend.

Will shaking his head with a sigh he climbed onto the black mech's hand. Ironhide then raised him up and walked towards the Anlyst Headquarters of NEST.

The quarter itself wasn't very large given the fact they only had five individuals who handled the frequency controls. Two were all highly trained members from the military and other sections of the government. But none could compare to the raw team they started out with consisting of one analyst, her hacker friend, and a neutral autobot. Though usually working behind the scenes they were instrumental in finding decepticon locations or spying on their operations.

As soon as they were close Glenn Whitman turned from his conversation with the autobot leader to greet the approaching group while the other two members of the team typed furiously away at their keyboards barely acknowledging the new presence. "Hey man!" he glanced at the autobot with a small nod. "'Hide."

"Whitman." Ironhide said with a grunt before giving Will a quick nod goodbye and leaving the Major to his work. The weapons specialist saw no need to hang around and he had his own business to deal with.

Will folded his arms behind his back and took a deep breath before turning to the towering mech. "Alright what seems to be the problem Optimus."

The autobot leader seemed very somber and he looked as if he'd been pondering something. "The analysts have detected a new decepticon transmission."

"Glenn informed me of that over the intercom. But isn't this something that you mechs should be able to understand."

Before Optimus could reply another voice broke in. "That would usually be true but today we haven't been able to decipher this code. I've had nearly every mech working on it."Out of nowhere the nearby large red boombox sitting by Glenn's computer transformed into a human size mech. "Those decepticreeps are getting wise to our ways. The codes a mixture of the usual mechanics but it's garbled and too organic for normal translation."

Will folded his arms over his chest looking intently at the bot. "Well why haven't you informed Ms. Madsen of the situation she's the best when in comes to detection Blaster."

The red autobot optics brightened slightly as he snapped his fingers (a human gesture he'd picked up since coming to earth). "Ah and there in lies the problem."

That was when the Major noticed that every member of the team was present save for the blond hacker. "Where is she?"

Glenn bit his lip before responding. "Well she's not answering her phone, and I've been unable to get in contact with her. Remember she was sent away shortly after Galloway arrived."

How could Lennox forget it had been an incident that would be forever planted in his memory, he'd come upon a near fist breakout between the Australian female and the Government Liaison. Apparently Maggie had been walking down the hall when she'd bumped into Theodore Galloway who saw fit to ridicule her for becoming a member of NEST after loosing her place as advisor to the sec def. The position she claimed he'd stolen from her.

It had taken Blaster, Glenn, himself, and a handful of soldiers to keep her from attacking him and risking their good terms with the president. He snorted at the thought. _'If it wasn't for need to stay on good terms with the government I would have allowed her to teach that jerk a lesson.'_ Oddly enough now that he'd considered it she'd been one of the few humans that hadn't been put under quarantine at Diego Garcia.

Will nodded. "Alright then what do you need from me?"

Optimus Prime took over speaking in an authoritative tone. "I need your permission Lennox to send a portion of my scouts to bring her back to base. We need this code translated." His optics softened with his next words. "I also fear she may be in danger."

It was true he had been left in charge of Diego Garcia while Morshower conversed with Carl Green in Washington, D.C. but still… "Hey Big Guy you don't need my permission for anything." Will said with a shake of his head. "The way I see it after everything we've been through together you're entitled to do whatever you think is necessary."

"Nevertheless we are not from here and must respect the governments wishes at this current moment in time." Optimus said his voice carrying much wisdom and experience. He nodded his head slightly. "Very well I shall send Arcee, and Ratchet her current guardian to go retrieve her."

Lennox nodded. "If anyone asks I'll tell them they just snuck out. After all it should be up to you whether you leave or stay." The autobot leader nodded before exiting the room. Will turned to Blaster and Glenn who had remained quiet the entire time. "Is there anything you two want to add?"

The two of them were apart of the original team that headed the analyst section of NEST. While Maggie had started it she enlisted an out of work Glenn, and when Blaster came to Earth he jumped at the opportunity to work with other sound technicians like himself finding it fascinating he'd be working with humans. They'd become an inseparable trio.

The two of them both cared about Maggie very much. "We're just wondering if there is anyway we can assist." Blaster stated quite efficiently.

Glenn rubbed the back of his neck and looked sheepish. "Yeah man Mags is our partner and we want to make sure she get's back here."

"Well the best thing you can do is keep trying to figure out that code." Will said in a straight forward tone. "So far the last battle has left the decepticons quiet. But we need to be prepared for anything."

The two nodded and Blaster transformed back into his altform near Glenn's desk tentacles reach out connecting to the computer's hard wires, while the hacker focused on the codes that ran across the screen. That would keep them busy Lennox decided now the only thing left to do was figure out a decent distraction so Arcee and Ratchet leave Diego Garcia undetected.

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The swoosh of the entrance door caused her to open her eyes startled by the sound. One of the only ones she'd heard in a while. Rumble had went into recharge himself but was now fully online. They both glanced up at the towering mech watching his stiff gate as he moved across the room with a large bundle in his arms. Maggie had to squint her eyes to get a full scope but soon the remains bits and pieces of a metal body came into view.

It looked terribly familiar though she couldn't place it. After setting the cargo down her captor fixed his red visor gaze directly on her causing the blond young woman to shift back away from the entrance of the cage. But the technician was already moving towards her at quicker speed. Soon the energy bars were deactivated and she saw the giant hand reaching out for her.

Maggie tried to evade him but she found herself roughly picked up by Soundwave. The large mech was none to gentle as he squeezed her small body a bit tighter then necessary causing her to squeak in protest. Stroking her harshly on the head he moved over to a large metal table near the berth that she'd figured out he recharged on. He said not a word but placed her on the table.

Knowing this was yet another task he wanted her to complete to prove she wasn't expendable she turned to face the new project. Only to bulk away almost falling off the table if it wasn't for the decepticons palm preventing her fall Maggie would have surely died. She stared at the mess of wiring and teeth with a shiver. It was nice to know her worst enemy was gone but seeing Ravage's remains made her feel terribly uncomfortable. She glanced up at her captor puzzled why had the mech put her on the table with this corpse?

Unless… no she couldn't do that. "I don't think I can help him." She said solemnly to the large decepticon.

A moment of silence went through the room as Soundwave remained still if it wasn't for his lit optics she'd almost think he'd been offlined. But he replied all too soon with his ultimatum. "Maggie Madsen will fix Ravage if she wants to continue functioning."

"But I can't." Maggie pleaded as she watched Rumble climbed on top counter with her now familiar tool box. "There is no way to bring someone back from the dead. Please try to understand."

"Fix. Ravage." Soundwave said in response.

Maggie couldn't take this. "But…"

"FIX RAVAGE!" He barked his tone reaching a high level but remaining the same robot like speech pattern. The circle on Soundwave's right wing lit up and from there Maggie knew what would come next.

A rush of energy flooded her systems as a shock caused her to spasm and fall down. She panted slightly trying to get up but it started again. She turned to look at him trying to appeal to any ounce of kindness that may be in the mech but she found none. All she found was a grief stricken decepticon walking in absolute denial.

"FIX RAVAGE!" with his tone a bit higher.

Maggie panted trying to get her bearings as she took deep breathes. Her eyes widened as she noticed the light on the wing was flickering. "Alright!" she cried then took a deep breath trying to calm down and not appear disobedient. She did not want to give her captor any reason to dispose her. Her life hung on the line with every wrong move she made. "I'll _try _to repair him."

The mech remained silent for a moment as if scanning through was she said to reach an answer. "Adequate response Soundwave will check on Maggie Madsen's progress after recharge."

Maggie breathed a sigh of relief. Fate was once again in her favor. Now she needed to try to repair Ravage or just work on him long enough to satisfy the mech's grief. The analyst doubted she'd be able to fix him. From what she'd learned of the transformer anatomy under Ratchet's guardianship and she knew for a fact that when a spark was extinguished it was gone for good.

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**A/N:** Before you ask the question the quarantine at Diego Garcia (my story idea) happens before Sam returns to college so he and Mikeala are there too. More will be answered in the future. I'm trying to stay as close to cannon as I can though it may be a little off after Dark of the Moon comes out but we'll see. I will try to stay in line with the prequel comic to the next movie too.

_Now the updates of this story rely on you my readers. I'm looking for a decent amount of reviews because I'm really busy with a few other stories and I want to only keep this one going if people are still interested._

Hope you enjoy!

Review please so Ratchet doesn't come after me with his hatchet!


	3. Complications & Revelations

**Linariel - **Argh life is a whirl wind right now but I'm this close to getting my associate degree then I move on to my bachelor. College is just plain busy. Thank you all for your amazing reviews, alerts, and favs I've enjoyed them all. Sorry for the wait but I shall finish this story I've got too much riding on this one to give up now.

_Disclaimer: I do not own any Transformers the credit for these remarkable characters goes to Hasbro and Michael Bay's team who produced the movie, and Dreamworks. I do however own all the characters that don't appear in any of the TF or any other show, movie, or book._

* * *

**Interfaced**

**Chapter 3: Complications & Revelations**

**By: Linariel**

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The young grease monkey snuggled her head deeper into her lovers shoulder as the two of sat together on the couch. Like everyone else involved in the way they'd been quarantined at Diego Garcia with NEST along with Sam's parents, Leo Spitz, and a number of other people.

They both were exceptionally tired after the enduring the curious government agents. Some of their scientists had been keen on doing a number of tests on Sam to understand what had happened to the allspark enthused boy but Ratchet had kept them back administrating his position as the boys medic, and after a number of legalities were sorted out it was decided his fate lay in the hands of the autobots.

Sam had already accepted this fact of his connection to the cybertronians from the moment he'd came back from the dead and drove the matrix of leadership into Optimus Prime's chest resurrecting the Autobot Leader. So he did not fight with their reasoning he frankly rather have his life lay in their servos then his fellow humans. He trusted them unconditionally now.

Despite the fact that he was not seeing symbols any more Sam was still having random bursts of cybertronian knowledge that had yet to completely leave his mind alone. It had taken a dose of aspirins and Mikaela's gentle touch until his frazzled nerves settled down.

Mikaela Banes faced her own problems when she'd been considered her a bystander and very close to being sent off base. But once again the autobots vouched for her. The couple owed a lot to the mechs.

Only after a long series of interrogations, interviews, and complete examinations had Sam and Mikaela were finally awarded some time alone. They desperately needed this closure and had melted into each other's arms soon after. The events of the past week had brought them even closer together and melted away the gaps that had begun to form. They felt like they'd do anything now and forever to make their relationship work.

As the mechanic leaned into her boyfriend Sam used his free uninjured had to stroke her brown hair. "How are you Beautiful?" He asked her softly.

She let out a soft sigh not answering him but her oceanic blue eyes peered up at him with a content smile then she finally answer. "Never better, I'm starting to get used to these unusual dates we go on." Mikaela added in a teasing tone.

Sam Witwicky laughed happily with a large sheepish grin on his face. "Well there's one thing to gain from being with me."

"Oh yeah what's that?" She asked although it was plain to see she was playing along.

"Your life is never dull."

Mikaele snorted with a roll of her eyes. "Tell me about it."

Their cuddling was interrupting abruptly by the rec door opening. The two turned slightly to see a hesitant adult human sized cybertronian entering the room. "Am I intruding on anything?"

Glancing at each other for a moment as if asking each other a question they turned to the autobot with smile. For a mech the sound technician was unbelievably mellow, and polite.

"Nah it's cool Blaster what's up?" Sam spoke up.

The red mech smiled a little brighter now. "Stellar. Well Glen and I were actually looking for you Sam my man."

Sam carefully pulled away from Mikaela and prepared himself for whatever they wanted help with. Although he had to admit this was the first time this particular autobot had ever came to him for something. "Right you guys need something or other?"

"More or less…" Blaster said with a shrug yet another human custom he'd picked up. Out of most of the mechs he seemed to enjoy picking up these gestures to express his feelings. "We think you might be able to decipher this signal we picked up and make sense of what it means." He clicked a knob on shoulder which resulted in a loud screeching, a few garbled, with added clicks here and there.

"I'll see what I can do Blaster you'll have to show the specs… But to be honest I don't know how much knowledge I still have left from that Allspark encounter." Sam stated directly. It was true the effects of the allspark downloading things into his brain still hadn't worn off completely but he was finding it harder to access the knowledge that had been forced on him.

"Isn't Maggie supposed to do that?" Mikaela asked with a raised eyebrow. She had become acquainted with the older blonde since their encounter at Mission City and the two corresponded back at for sometimes. She knew clearly that this was obvious to her this was her area of expertise.

Blaster's blue optics went down cast with her words. "We're still having problems locating her …"

* * *

Bits and pieces of drone were spread about as Maggie worked her way through the smashed casing to the robotic one eyed cat's processors which surprisingly were still intact. Although the hacker had a feeling it that was probably the only thing left undamaged on the decepticon.

Her hands were shaky as she went through the process of working the wires apart. They were a tangled mess and a few were left un-frayed. She could feel the stare of the decepticon communications officer's drone Rumble as she drew out strands of Ravage's wiring. She studied them carefully and tried to access her memories of the repairs Ratchet had shown her. She then worked to place the wires into the proper arrangement but that in itself was a meticulous job.

As she worked Maggie's mind slowly begun to process all she was doing. The NEST analyst drew her hands away with a flinch. _What on Earth am I doing?_ A jolt of confusion and horror entered her mind at what she'd been about to do. She shouldn't helping the decepticons they were her enemy yet her mind couldn't fathom a reason not to. After all she only functional thanks to the usefulness she posed to Soundwave. _I need to stay alive._ But she shook her head at the thought how could she think like that. Helping the decepticons take down her friends was the lowest thing she could possibly do and yet she was doing it.

_Why is all this happening? _Maggie's head ached as she tried to understand her actions. She'd never submitted to anyone before she'd lived by her instincts and those alone. Even with the words of advice occasionally from her guardian Ratchet she'd chosen to ignore most of his lectures on health and safety regulations. But at least he'd cared for her as a friend yet had Soundwave ever treated her as more then a tool? No he hadn't and yet she was working for the decepticon without much complaint. Her brain hurt even more as she rubbed her temples.

A shock emitted from the collar earning a yelp from her, and reminding Maggie of the task she was idly ignoring. She gritted her teeth shedding a few tears from the pain the training band put her through. Her eyes dimmed a bit and her hands reached for another tool as she worked through the wiring to repair Ravage's processors. Her confusion soon replaced by her task.

* * *

After awaking from recharge the Decepticon Communications Officer observed his human Maggie's progress ever silently. He was satisfied with the results she was turning out. Since repairing the hacker after her mishap with cybertronian energon, his pet had been a little less compliant. She showed moments of disobedience so often he surmised that the shock of chip in the collar would have put it to sleep for good soon. Humans were such a fragile species. But he couldn't let her die he needed her alive she was important instrument that he wasn't about to loose.

Why exactly go to all that trouble over one miserable organic? Soundwave's reasoning was clear though other decepticons probably would still question it. The hacker was a rarity among her race her intelligence was something out of the ordinary. He couldn't allow Megaton to destroy something with such potential. It was against his programming to let such abilities go to waste. So he'd opted to keep her online. She'd proven herself useful regardless of how many times she protested. Her ability as a quick learner and sharp mind were useful.

Still for the first few days she'd struggled against his commands. His human even begun to resist the pains of the training band to a certain degree, for a human she was quite durable even if she was fragile. With the end results the hacker decided the best thing he could do to quell her rebellion without actually giving her lenience was to perform a little experiment on the analyst. He'd been studying human brain and was quite fascinated with the reaction to certain stimulations to their processors.

Through his findings and scans of his human he'd been able to come up with a way to change the organic femme's programming ever so slightly. Careful transmission of shock therapy had been sent into her body while sonic pulses were administered directly into her nerves as she recharged to coax her into a docile state. He'd implemented on her brain instructions that altered her mind's make up ever slightly without damaging her intellect. It took only a few days for the collar to bring about results. Today was the first successful test run.

Once he was finished he had a far more compliant worker although like now she still had her moments of returning to her previous programing in time however he surmised that he'd have trained his little pet. Soundwave ever patient he would wait for the core download to take over completely. For now he'd continue to discipline the femme as he saw fit.

* * *

It hadn't been easy to sneak the autobot medic and the only remaining femme off base. But Epps and his teams of NEST members came through with quite a convincing fight which pulled the government agents attention from the left entrance to Diego Garcia. A yellow SUV hummer and a red Ducati 848 pulled off of base with holoform drivers to keep people from getting alarmed or suspicious.

Ratchet still didn't understand Prime's reasoning about appointing him as the temporary guardian of Maggie Madsen. The feelings seemed to be mutual from her. But they'd made of the best of it and Ratchet gradually found himself growing fond of the Australian blond. She was very bright and whenever she had free time she'd come watch him repair the mechs on the base, ever so often asking questions about cybertronian anatomy but for the most part she just studied his work. She especially was interested in their internal circuitry. When she started lending a hand in things he'd found her a tolerable assistant.

It still was amazing how well the organic femme could multitask between her job as an analyst and being his student. Ratchet could not deny she was talented for a human and her work was sufficient enough. He'd never thought he'd find such respect for an organic. But the girl's temper and stubborn nature left nothing to be desired. He could still remember her immediate refusal when he'd questioned her diet and her choice of living space.

And he still couldn't understand her insistence about living off the base. Even Whitmann had settled for a place in the barracks but the NEST analyst would have nothing of it. He'd argued profusely with her choice knowing it wasn't a great option but Maggie wasn't the least deterred and she wouldn't relent till she got an apartment off base. Oddly enough the organic femme seemed happier after this arrangement.

So he'd dealt with it and made the best of things. But this was odd it wasn't like Maggie to not contact him to at least be kept informed at what was happening on base. She didn't enjoy being left out of things regardless if she was there or not. After dropping her off from her spat with Galloway that was the last he'd heard from her.

_:We're approaching the home of NEST Analyst Maggie Madsen:_ came the voice of Arcee over his comlink frequency. She sounded tired and a little distraught Ratchet surmised she'd need another checkup when all this was done.

Tilting his mirror he glimpsed the nearby pink motorcycle that was gliding along next to him rather aimlessly. For once the hard core medic could feel pang of sympathy in his spark for the femme. She'd been the only survivor of her faction and no doubt felt phantom pains from the moment her trio's sparks were extinguished. He'd had to perform an operation to severe her connection with her siblings to keep her from going offline herself.

He was still impressed with how she was handling things it was hard from a bystanders point of few to tell she was suffering. Arcee was fairly good at masking her pain she was a soldier first and foremost. It had been the right idea on Optimus's part to send her off base she needed some time to clear her processors and get her mind back on the work.

The two approached a beaten down apartment on the edge of town. After scanning the area for any organic forms of life they found none not even the familiar signature of the analyst, however they did get faint readings of a few off lined organic corpses in the immediate vicinity. From what they could tell by the rotting flesh it had been awhile since the attack. Without a word Ratchet transformed and Arcee followed soon after. It didn't matter the consequences something was obviously wrong. Ever vigilant the valkyrie femme brought her blasters on line pointing them about as she flanked Ratchet.

"It looks like some slag happened here…" the red femme surmised as she moved closer to the apartment building the area was more or less left intact but she spied a nearby broken door.

Ratchet turned towards it recognizing it as the entrance to Maggie's apartment. He moved towards it but was unable to get inside because of his large size. Fortunately that was half of the reason their leader had assigned Arcee to this recon mission.

After the battle the femme had requested few modifications in order to do her job more efficiently. Now that her partners were gone it left her more vulnerable. With most of her special armor now scrapped she'd reduced in size and her form had been modified with a pair of legs to give her more adaptability. Because of this she was able to get into tight organic spaces with more ease then him though she still had to crawl about she was lean and less bulky then Bumblebee.

_:What are you finding Arcee?:_ he asked through his comlink.

A pregnant pause followed before he received a response. _:It's not good Docbot' the place is in complete shambles. I'm picking up traces of decepticon energy signals mixed with an organic that matches Ms. Madsen. Also there are a lot of claw marks…:_

Ratchet's spark sank with these words. _:Ravage I assume. Any signs of struggle, injury, or her off lined remains.: _he shuddered at the last one he couldn't bare the idea of loosing one of their human allies especially the one he was supposed to be watching over.

But to his relief Arcee respond. _:Oh yeah lots of struggle not a lot of leaked energon or as the organics call it blood. My guesses are she was abducted and those humans outside had just been collateral damage for getting in the way Ravage's objective. Oh and there's one more thing…:_

_:What?:_

_:Her cabinet has been accessed and I'm not finding any traces of her files.:_

The medic cursed under his breath in cybertronian. _:So not only have we lost NEST's Chief Analyst but all of the copies she made are missing also?:_

"Yeah that pretty much sums it up." Arcee replied out loud as she ducked out of the building, and landed next to the medic.

A string of curses rang out in the air again from Ratchet. "That foolish girl I told her not to do this." He knew the analyst taking copies of her NEST work home would lead to this but Maggie had insisted it would make things easier for her. And now that decepticons had their hands on what information the analyst had gathered along with the Australian blonde herself. They were just fortunate that she hadn't kept any record of Diego Garcia's NEST base or location. If she had they'd truly be slagged.

* * *

Dealing with a distraught Decepticon venting air over your shoulder is something Maggie Madsen never could have imagined experiencing. But soon as the Decepticon Communications officer was back online he'd more or less set his optics on her while she worked. She wasn't used to preforming under so much pressure even when she'd been a government analyst the only thing she had to worry about was her team putting in their two pieces about something or other. And that was nothing compared to having the large decepticon's shadow draped over her. Even the grumpy medic Ratchet was easier than this mech.

Shivering the hacker tried her hardest to keep her mind directly on her task. She'd managed to repair the damage done to cat's wiring in the tail but she still had to fuse together the wires that connected it to his nerves. She'd gone to work with a pair of pliers cutting off the severed ends so she could properly put get them back together. It was taking a number of twists, bends, and pulling but things were returning to their proper placing.

Every minute she worked Maggie had to remain alert when she stopped her task Soundwave's right or left circle on would light up giving her a painful shock to get her back on track. When he wasn't satisfied with her work he'd make it plain through more zaps from the collar. But for the most part he remained quiet as she worked. The analyst was finding herself more and more aware of her surroundings and what she was exactly doing but the mech kept her working with each jolt sent to her.

She wanted to upright refuse to obey him but survival instincts started to kick in after the fifteenth shock. Maggie let out an exasperated sigh as she adjusted his retina wires to get his one optic back to functioning. As she worked the one eyed cat drone still remained still. She was quite sure he was offline now. Why else would the cat not be trying to attack her during this operation? Unless of course Soundwave had put him into some kind of sleep mode or as she remembered Ratchet telling her stasis. But the Australian blonde doubted it.

"How's it com-ing in-sect." cut in a voice abruptly from next nearby.

Knowing it was Rumble she chose to ignore him and kept working. Maggie knew if she stopped she'd get another reprimand through shocks from Soundwave. The emotionless mech was starting to get impatient somehow she could tell and she didn't want to set him off more.

Rumble waddled over to stand directly next to her. "Things look su-fic-ient. Soundwave will be pleased."

Somehow she couldn't agree with him she had yet to find any sign that the other drone was still alive. But a question was brewing her mind as she worked. It was obvious Ravage had been in a battle and lost it but who exactly had he fought. "How did he end up in this bloody mess?"

There was pause and the drone glanced seemed to glance at his creator before speaking. "Small yell-ow autobot fought him to keep us away from allspark touched flesh-ling." Rumble seemed almost melancholy as he stared at his brethren. "Autobot won fight."

Silently Maggie applauded Bumblebee's actions for she had no doubt that was who Rumble was talking about. She didn't know any other yellow autobots then him. The news of a human being effected by the allspark caught her off guard. Wasn't there only one piece accounted for? She knew for a fact it had been heavily guarded by the government but she'd also been informed by Ravage that their master had risen thanks to that piece. Was there another? For some reason she had a feeling the human the drone was referring to could only be Sam Witwicky. Who else would the scout be so ready to defend?

Her wandering mind earned a shock from Soundwave causing her body to jump and earning a yelp from her. She glanced back at her so called master. "If you keep that up I could be dead before I finish here."

"Minds should not waver. Conclusion: Maggie Madsen will finish the task or she will be disciplined." Soundwave's emotionless voice droned out at his captive. He then turned his optics to directly stare her eyes. "Compute?"

Nodding shakily she turned back to her task. "Right then I'll get it done." But Maggie was beginning to become perplexed. What more could she do. He'd forced the task of fixing Ravage on her but she didn't think there was any way to save the drone. As she bent over to work on his joints the hacker paused her ears were beginning to pick up something very faint.

A humming was coming from the direction of the one eyed cat, quickly she began digging through the loose casing and setting it aside. Energon spilled onto her hands causing her to withdraw them from the bot. Instead of receiving a shock however Rumble moved over to grab her hands she shook against his hold trying to get him to let go but he remained holding them firmly. Her eyes widened as more of the cooling gel was applied to them cutting off the energon before it could burn through her skin to the bone.

Then the kindness was cut off by the pushy drone shoving her back into the cat. She glared at him but he responded with a smirk. "Keep your ser-vos away from the en-er-gon and you'll man-age." She stared at him questioningly to which he shrugged. "Soundwave does-n't want his pet femme to lose her tools." He said referring to her hands. "Back to work."

Maggie glared slightly at the drone before returning to the task of getting to that sound. This time she took more care to stay away from the points that leaked. Rumble even moved in to place temporary patches to stop the bleeding energon. It was rather odd to the analyst in the least to find the transformer's life blood still abundant. Did this mean the cat was still alive.

She soon got her answer as she neared a square casing and pulled it open without thinking. Inside was something she'd never imagined seeing up close. A small blue dot was weakly pulsing. Maggie had never seen a spark chamber before she and Ratchet never got down to that in his teachings. Plus she was more interested in the circuitry then the actual anatomy of a cybertronian. She didn't think first and reached out to it.

Abruptly she was shocked rather hard by the training and pushed back falling into the waiting servos of Soundwave. The silent mech had appeared from nowehere. Before she could even struggle out of his grasp he closed his digits around her fragile body squeezing it just barely make her behave.

Maggie stared back at the open spark chamber and tried not to flinch away from the Decepticon Communication Officer's abrupt petting.

As he stroked her blonde hair he spoke. "Maggie detected Ravage's online. Sufficiency up 89%. Conclusion former NEST analyst still useful."

She struggled a little in his grasp not liking the way he worded things. After a few more strokes on her head he carefully set her in the cage. Maggie watched behind the electric bars with dread as he moved to pick up the cat then exited the room with a grinning Rumble.

She sank back into the small cot that had been set up for her with a groan. She'd just more or less saved the life of a decepticon. If she hadn't gotten so curious perhaps the drone would be scrapped. Now she could only guess the mech would taking the one eyed Ravage to a proper medic to get him completely fixed.

"Wonderful just wonderful Maggie…" she snarled to herself sarcastically. Why oh why did she have to be so fascinated about cybertronian technology. It was beginning to come back to bite her.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay I changed a few details from ROTF but not a lot instead of having Chromia the blue Arcee unit survive I just had Arcee herself make it. Also Elita One and Chromia's names are now Flareup 'purple' and Moonracer 'blue' I really hated that Bay killed them off in that movie. Besides if I remember correctly their names weren't really brought up in the movie directly besides being Arcee units. Also when you think of her form refer back to how she originally was supposed to look but with a red shade instead. That's how she is now.

I thought it over and I'm not going to get rid of Mikaela in this story although I actually do like Sam and Carly together but I don't really want to have a breakup in this story. Plus I'm actually neutral between which pairing I like better. So more or less this has the potential of being AU somewhat from DOTM some things will follow it however.

This mostly focused on Maggie and Soundwave so there's no point in adding drama that takes away from the plot. Angst is good but for me at least it needs purpose

I hope this clears up Maggie's abrupt actions in the second chapter yes I've had this planned for a long time and I think the title of this story and summary make a little more sense now.

Expect some more interaction from other decepticons in the next chapter…

Hope you enjoy!

_As always the fate of this story lies in the hands of my readers. Please review so I can continue writing this. If you want to read more even the smallest reviews will be cherished. _

Review please so Ratchet doesn't come after me with his hatchet!


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